Founding Era

The Historic Documents in this set cover the Founding era from 1750 to 1790.  During this period, Americans declared and won their independence from the British empire.  They experimented with new forms of government, including a wave of state constitutions and America’s first framework of national government, the Articles of Confederation.  And after vigorous debates at the Constitutional Convention and during the battle over ratification, the American people—acting through specially elected state ratifying conventions—approved the U.S. Constitution.